Is there anything really new under the sun?
I've been reflecting a lot lately on the fact that it seems like there are no new ideas when it comes to marketing a new product or service. Sure, you can find all sorts of products that are "NEW & IMPROVED!". But where are the seriously new ways to market old products or brand new category changing products.
Back in the mid-90's, Peter Coish and his team at Wunderman looked around the world and saw that home and auto insurance was being sold on television via 1-800 numbers. England was ahead of the curve and home & auto insurance products were all over the telly -- all you had to do was call a 1-800 number to sign up. While a bank or two in Canada may have tipped their big toe into the water at that time, nothing really came of it. Until DirectProtect Home Insurance jumped into the deep end of the pool when it was launched by Peter and his team as a test on television. The campaign (you may remember a tiny man walking around a big yellow coffee mug and telephone receiver) was a raging success and won the CMA's highest honour -- the Best of the Best Award at that year's RSVP Awards.
I returned to Wunderman the following year and Peter and I launched DirectProtect Auto Insurance. Again, a brand new entry into the marketplace for auto insurance. A new way of selling insurance was born. Now it's a commodity market. But my point is that Peter and his client looked beyond Canada for inspiration and had the vision and guts to reinvent that success here.
Another famous example is what Dave Nichol did with President's Choice. The model was established in the States and Europe, I believe. There was nothing like it in Canada. They tested the concept with a Chocolate Chip Cookie and the rest is history.
Where are our risk-takers and visionaries today? Where are the really new ideas?
